Balgowlah North Public School eNewsletter

"We acknowledge and respect the traditional custodians on whose land our school rests. Their footsteps and whispers blow in the wind, drift on the clouds, remain deep in the sandstone and float on the waterways of this place. Their memories and Dreaming stories will continue to connect us to the land and guide future generations of our school community. Country is alive if you take the time to look, listen and learn."

Principal's message

NAIDOC Week

This week Balgowlah North is celebrating NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July each year, to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth.

This year’s NAIDOC week theme is For Our Elders. Across every generation, Elders have played, and continue to play, an important role and hold a prominent place in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and families.

They are known as cultural knowledge holders, nurturers, teachers, survivors, leaders, hard workers and loved ones. NAIDOC week is an opportunity to pay respects to the Elders across all our Nations and pay homage to them.

Bobbi Lockyer, based on Kariyarra Country in Port Hedland, is the winner of the prestigious NAIDOC Week Poster Competition for 2023. She says “Where there is knowledge there are our Elders. Our Elders paved the pathways for us, taught us our knowledge, our history, they passed down their art, stories and wisdom. Our Elders are the foundation of our communities and role models for our children. With this poster I wanted to showcase how important our Elders are in passing down traditions and culture to our children and future.”
There are some wonderful events being held across the Northern Beaches to celebrate NAIDOC Week in the school holidays. Some of these include art workshops, exploring Indigenous astronomy, storytelling and learning about bush tucker. Find more information at the following link: https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/whats-on/naidoc-week

Sydney North Dance
Congratulations to our fabulous students who performed at Glen Street Theatre last night as part of the Sydney North Dance Festival. Thank you to Steph Rooleht and Eliza Ross for the choreography, costuming, lunchtime rehearsals and providing a fantastic opportunity for our students.

Celebrating Our Staff

I would like to acknowledge the dedicated and passionate teaching staff of Balgowlah North Public School. This term our students have had the opportunity to participate in a myriad of sporting events, PSSA teams, debating, public speaking, drama ensemble, dance, choir, operation art, HPGE opportunities, celebrate wellbeing, and participate in student led SRC events. All of these opportunities are only possible because of the commitment of our teachers to provide this for our students both in and outside of the classroom to build connections, succeed in their school life and thrive and grow.

Our core business in schools is teaching and learning underpinned by strong systems that promote positive wellbeing. Our work is important, as we support the students of Balgowlah North to grow, develop confidence and build the skills to become leaders of the future. Thank you to Nicki Marenbach, Adrian Barter, Prue Jackson and Nicole Margetts for organising and baking for a thank you morning tea for our staff yesterday, it was very much appreciated.

Amanda Mason and Patricia Vitale

I’d especially like to acknowledge the contribution of Amanda Mason and Patricia Vitale. Both Amanda and Patricia have served within the Public Education system for over 30 years. Both teachers are passionate educators, providing high expectations for all students within an environment of care. They are both committed to building relationships with students, providing high quality teaching using evidence based practice, as well as continuing to build their own capacity to learn and grow, lead teams of teachers, mentor early career staff, collaborate within their teams and provide support to students and families alike. Their care, compassion and integrity for equity and excellence are exemplary.

We have had a busy, energised and engaging term. Please take the time to celebrate your children’s reports this week, focus on the positive and continue to work in partnership with us to provide a high quality education for all our students.

We will see you all back at school on Tuesday the 18th of July.

Brooke Keevers
Principal

School News

Balgowlah North Senior Dance Ensemble
Last Friday and Tuesday nights, the Balgowlah North Senior Dance Ensemble performed our dance, ‘Treat People with Kindness’, at Glen Street Theatre as part of Sydney North Dance Festival. The dance represents showing kindness by including others, even if they are different to us, which we think is a great message for the audience. We had so much fun on stage (and off stage)...the lights definitely made it better! We thank Miss Rooleht and Miss Ross for creating such a cool dance and for giving up their time to rehearse our dance with us every Wednesday. We really enjoyed the whole experience and can’t wait to perform again at a K-6 assembly next term!

Harry W and Jess M
Year 5 dancers

Stage 3 History Research
We love the moments as teachers where students themselves become the experts. This Monday was certainly an example of that. This term Stage 3 students have been learning about Australian history and the people who have shaped and influenced Australian society. Each student selected and researched a significant Australian person who has contributed to the development of Australian society. For example in areas such as the economy, education, sciences, the arts and sport. For their final presentation students became the significant Australian and were on display to classes throughout the school to answer questions about how they contributed and made change. View the photo gallery to see the diversity in areas of interest and research choices.

Stage 3 Teachers

MiniLit
Congratulations to out Minilit graduates Camilia D and Jackson Q.

ICAS
We will be providing students with the opportunity to participate in the world-renowned ICAS competition this year. 

 What is ICAS? 
ICAS is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. Balgowlah North Public School will be offering opportunities for students to participate in the Writing, English, Science and Mathematics competitions this year.

Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student who participates will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals. 

If you are interested in entering your child into ICAS or wish to find out more about the competitions please visit the website below: Learn more about ICAS here. (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas) 

How to participate in ICAS:

If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please: 

Read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (icasassessments.com/products-icas)  2. read the terms and conditions here: (icasassessments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2023-ICAS-Assessments-Parents-PPS-TsCs_final.pdf)
Go to Parent Portal to purchase tests here: (shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps) 
Enter our school’s access code – TAL937
Enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment.

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email, please keep this for your records. 

 ICAS Results and Certificates

We will send home your child’s ICAS certificate when we receive it. The back of the certificate shows ICAS results and the login details, “TAP ID and Pin”, that you and your child need to enter the Results Portal.

ICAS Dates at BNPS 2023

Writing	August 10th
English	August 17th
Science	August 21st
Mathematics	August 30th

Please ensure you register for ICAS via the PPS by July 17th.

Admin News

Excusions and Events
Detailed information can be found on all permisson notes by clicking on the link in the email sent via School Bytes.

The Week Ahead

26 June NAIDOC Week at School
29 June BNPS School reports go home
30 June Year 5 Dancesport
30 June Last day of Term 2
3 July Winter School Holidays
2-9 July NAIDOC Week
17 July Staff Development Day
17 July ICAS applications closing date
18 July First day of Term 3 for students
19 July Stage 1 Glen Street Theatre
20 July School Athletics Carnival
24 July Basketball Gala Day

Sports News

Our school athletics carnival will be held on Thursday 20th July - Week 1 of next term at Seaforth Oval. All students in Years 2-6 will be participating. We have had to return to Seaforth this year due to the resurfacing works at Narrabeen sports academy. All students will compete in a 100m race and will have the option of competing in 200m and 800m events. We will run shot put finals on this day as well as novelty events to make it a fun and engaging day for all. Students are able to wear appropriate sun -safe shirts in their house colours. If you are able to assist as a timekeeper at our athletics carnival please ensure you have completed that section in the permission note. Parents will be contacted if they are required. We thank you in advance for your assistance as the carnival could not go ahead without it!

Our high jump and long jump finals will take place on the school oval on Wednesday 19th July. Students have been placed in finals based on their trial performances run during class this term. Please note the below schedule is a guide only for Wednesday.

Time (Approx)	High Jump - Finalists only	Long Jump - finalists only
9am	12 Year Boys	11 Year Boys
9:45	12 Year Girls	11 Year Girls
10:25	11 Year Girls	12 Year Boys
11:20	11 Year Boys	12 Year Girls
12:00	Junior Boys	Junior Girls
1:40	Junior Girls	Junior Boys

Kerry Kelly and Anna Harris
Sports Carnival Coordinators

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Class Snapshot - Stage 1

Waste Free Wednesday

P & C News

Tropical moves and grooves – the BNPS Disco had it all.
Dancing, leis, bubbles, balloons, hula hoops and more … so much fun was had at the tropically themed disco with 88% of the school attending. Organised by our band parents, the disco is the ensemble program’s annual fundraiser which helps cover a portion of the costs of running the program and provide other opportunities for our young musicians. There is an enormous amount of organising for these kinds of events to ensure the children have a wonderful time – and they did!

Term 2 has been massive! A huge thank you to the Trivia Team for organising an excellent event & raising a record amount of funds. Thank you to everyone who supported, attended, bought raffle tickets or auction items.

The Band put on an awesome tropical Disco for the kids last week. Thank you to the team & a huge thanks to the parents who DJ’d & set up the sound system.

Thanks to my team, Dan, Cath, Lisa, Pip & Lucy for your continued time, skill & support We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting in week 3, term 3.

Karen Ciano

P&C President

Band News

Band Term 2 Wrap Up
Lots of activities for the band this term – Band Workshop early in the term, then Mother’s Day performances, Harbourside Music Festival event with Balgowlah Boys and Balgowlah Heights bands, Northern Beaches Instrumental Festival and couple of assembly performances thrown in – all capped off by an amazing disco. Well done to all the band members for their efforts and commitment this term and of course, our fabulous conductors, Mark and Angus. Big thanks to the parents for supporting the students in their musical pursuits.

Band Term 3 performances (so far)
Make a diary note and keep an eye on the website for updated information - https://bnpsband.wixsite.com/website/calendar-and-events

Education Open Morning – Thursday 4 August. All three bands and strings will perform.
Father’s Day Breakfast – Thursday 31 August. All three bands and strings will perform.

Koolkuna News

Term 3 Additional Activities
Can you believe it's already time to prepare for Term 3?! We have some very exciting additional activities lined up at Koolkuna next Term:

Drama Club
For K-1 children who love the performing arts & have an imaginative eye, this is for you! This activity will involve a range of Music, Dance & Drama over an 8 week program.

Years K-1 Children
Term 3 (Week 3-Week 10)

Football Evolution
Do you want to hone your soccer skills? The team from Football Evolution will be running an 8 week intensive program to build skill, tricks & gameplay strategies.